Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 143: The Dragon Power’s Properties

Xiao Lin soon realized that there night existed in that world. The blood-red sun in the sky did not set, but there were two extra moons in the sky. They were also of a terrifying blood-red color, which only added to the creepiness of that world.

Xiao Lin hid in a random building. There were no skeleton soldiers on the periphery of the palace, only countless workshops. At the moment, he chose a blacksmith’s workshop, where he saw all kinds of weapons. It was automated, like an assembly line, but machines did not exist in a world like that. The only explanation Xiao Lin could come to was that the high priest used some kind of mana to manipulate it.

The skeleton army’s movements ceased when the blood moon rose into the air, and those workshops stopped working too. Of course, Xiao Lin was unsure whether there was a connection between the two, but in any case, the place had provided him a relatively hidden place to rest.

Although Xiao Lin had no idea how time there was calculated, he estimated that he ought to find some food or drink after realizing that he was getting hungry. The place was harsh on a person, but there was actually no shortage of food there. The priest created an almost perfect-looking city, with flowers and trees on both sides of the road, rivers and spring water, as well as wild fruits and the like. However, he could not tell for certain whether those things were edible. After a brief struggle with his thoughts, Xiao Lin decided to eat them.

He wanted to do his best to survive the damned place. If he did not eat, he would probably starve to death before he was killed by skeleton soldiers or captured by the high priest. That was not a glorious way to die. After picking some wild fruits nearby and trying them, Xiao Lin was surprised to find that they were sweeter and more delicious than the fruits on Earth.

More accurately, it was even better than the fruits from New Washington, since the fruits cultivated on the New World were generally sweeter than those on Earth. According to Song Junlang, the New World did not have as much industrial pollution as the Earth did, and the air there was rich with the four major elements, thus giving the fruit more natural power.

Be that as it may, Xiao Lin was not at New Washington. He was at the cradle of the world created by God: The Final Land. The blood-red sun and moon in the sky were far from natural-looking and harmless. Even though Xiao Lin was forced to eat the plants that grew in that environment, it was unsurprising that they would form shadows of doubt in his mind.

After having his fill and repeatedly confirming that no skeleton soldiers appeared in the surrounding buildings, Xiao Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief. When he looked at the blacksmith’s workshop again, Xiao Lin’s eyes lit up and he found that there were tons of weapons and armor. They were obviously prepared for the palace’s skeletons, but there had not been any time to equip them.

Xiao Lin was unable to clearly recognize the equipment, but he knew that he could not use weapons that were too high high-ranked, so picked up the swords on the weapon rack and tried his hand at them one by one.

They were all very sophisticated weapons that had engravings of various peculiar runes. Evidently, they were not ordinary weapons, but Xiao Lin could not sense any of their effects when he held them. There were those he could not even pick up and proved difficult to use at close distance. Weapons that he could not use were equivalent to scrap copper and rotten iron to him.

In the end, he could only turn his eyes to the weapons scattered in the corners. Compared to those on the racks, they looked like defective products. Each weapon had defects of varying levels of obviousness. For example, there was varying thickness in the armors, revealing weak points in certain areas. The blades of some of the weapons were notched too.

The deterioration of the weapons’ quality also made these weapons lose their power, but correspondingly, the requirements needed to use them would also be reduced. For example, a weapon that could only be used a Gold-rank may only need a Silver-rank–or even a Bronze–to use. Its power may be less than half of the original version, but it was also much stronger than going at it empty-handed.

Xiao Lin chose a long and slender sword. It was very unique, in that the edges of the two blades were forged from unknown maroon materials. He held the hilt and swung it twice, producing a faint flame in the blade that fluttered quite majestically.

The only hitch was that there was a very obvious groove in the center of the blade, thus reducing the quality of the entire sword by more than a couple of grades. Xiao Lin was able to wield it quite smoothly, and the flame imbued to the blade gave him the impression that it was a magic weapon. That—defects aside—was a good choice of weapon at the moment.

Xiao Lin did not rest very well that night, but the skeleton army remained inactive until the blood moon in the sky disappeared, thereby cementing his theory that the blood moon’s appearance in the sky affected the actions of those undead creatures.

Night lasted only a short while in that world. When the blood-red sun was left in the sky, the skeleton army regained its ability to move and continued to spread its search to the surrounding streets.

Although Xiao Lin tried his best to hide and evade, it was still difficult to escape completely in the face of their blanket search. However, the advantage was that the skeleton soldiers separated from each other even more as the streets became more intricate and complicated. Xiao Lin faced teams of only seven or eight skeletons at that moment.

“I hope my guess is correct!” Xiao Lin was not as panicked as he was the day before. He held the Lightstream Jade tightly and its automatic defense mechanism sprung into place after sensing the threat from the undead creatures. The power belonging to the Golden Dragon came out again, and Xiao Lin was relieved a little; it indicated that the dragon’s power in the jade pendant had not been completely exhausted.

The golden dragon’s figure still did not appear, but Xiao Lin began paying special attention to his own changes. The dragon’s power floated around his body in a semi-visible manner, and the reason for its semi-visible state was because Xiao Lin’s level of strength was not high enough, making it impossible for him to observe it much deeper.

It was nevertheless sufficient. Xiao Lin gritted his teeth, grabbed the big sword he had just obtained, and rushed toward the skeleton soldier. He had already sprinted to the skeleton several meters ahead of him, having no time to appreciate that amazing increase in speed. He gasped, then quickly raised his sword as the red part around the blade immediately burst into flames, engulfing the entire skeleton in an instant.

Such formidable strength!

Xiao Lin was astonished. The sword had actually shattered the skeleton soldier’s left arm completely, but he could clearly feel that the force was the dragon power strengthening him.

The reason did not matter; the result was most important.

Several other skeleton soldiers reacted immediately and began surrounding Xiao Lin. He slid away smoothly and avoided a bone knife that was thrust right at him. He then deftly stood behind the skeleton soldiers and raised the sword yet again.